Finally photos

Hola mis amigos. It's been a busy first weekend in BA. Friday we had our last day of intensive orientation, where we learned a lot more about the different universities in which we can take classes and also our upcoming trip to Bariloche, a beautiful place in the southern lakes region of Argentina. Check out the sweet hotel we'll be staying at...www.amancayhotel.com.ar/English/index. Friday night after eating this meat and potato dish with my family at 10:30 I met up with some people from the program and we went out to this bar on a trendy street of bars, clubs, and restaurants across from the famous Recoleta cemetery. It was so weird to be able to order alcohol at a restaurant! I had some kind of dark artisan beer from Argentina. We sat outside and watched all the beautiful people walking by for awhile. Then we went to a 1:30 AM showing of Frost/Nixon in English with Spanish subtitles. I had wanted to see an Argentine film but apparently the movie theatres here show movies from the U.S. almost exclusively, which is really too bad. When the movie got out we decided to try and walk back to our apartments because it seemed well lit, but we ended up getting really lost, walking onto this dark, dead street with sketchy looking men lurking around, freaking out, and calling a taxi. Then the taxi driver misunderstood the first address, went way the wrong direction, and we thought we were getting kidnapped for a second or something haha. But I eventually got home...around 4:30!...so it was okay.

Saturday I slept till noon, and when I got up neither my mother nor my brother was awake! Around one I met up with my friend Katie who lives nearby and we walked about 25 minutes over to the Plaza de Mayo to meet up with two other girls. The weather was a little cooler so we sat in the plaza amidst the flocks of disgusting pigeons for awhile. Then we went to the famous Cafe Tortoni nearby, where the author Borges and other important Argentine literary and political figures have gathered for over a hundred years. We had a leisurely lunch, and I got to know a girl Kara from Boston who loves Euchre, Anna Quindlen, and Mass in foreign countries, so I think we'll be spending some more time together! After lunch we went to the beautiful Metropolitan Cathedral on the Plaza de Mayo, which looks like a government building from the outside, with its big concrete columns. We happened to get there at just the right time, so we saw the changing of the guards at the tomb of General San Martin, a national hero and the liberator of Argentina, Chile, and other South American countries. Our next stop was the Casa Rosada, or Argentina's equivalent of the White House. This is where the president works (but she doesn't live there). It was so unlike the U.S., because you could just walk right up to the building and go in for a free tour. The tour was in Spanish and I didn't understand a lot, but the various rooms inside were gorgeous. On my way home I stopped to get some photocopies made of my passport that we need for our visa or something. I went to this little open air Libreria, where a single man and his little son were working. I didn't have enough cash and they didn't accept credit cards, so I said I'd come back Monday, but the guy insisted he do it right then and said I could just come back and pay him on Monday. It was in my neighborhood and I came right back after getting more money in my apartment but it was really nice of him and characteristic of the little family-owned shops in the barrio. Saturday night for dinner we took the subway out to Palermo, a trendy barrio a little farther away. After wandering around in the rain for awhile we settled on this parilla called Don Julio that was recommended in my guidebook. There were a lot of locals there, but we also saw some other people from the program. We met some girls on a different program from NYU and this one girl had just been almost robbed at knifepoint when a man pushed her into a doorway and tried to take her purse. She screamed and sprinted away but the guy cut her hand. It was really scary. Two girls on our program have also already been robbed. I feel safe most of the time, but we keep hearing about all of these incidents, most of them in "safe" neighborhoods, not when people were alone, and not very late. Anyway, the restaurant was awesome. They bring you a glass of complimentary champagne while you wait for a table. Then there was bread and these great spice sauces for it. We got a bottle of white wine, and I had the beef tenderloin, which was excellent. Everyone who got steaks loved them. There were six of us at dinner. We got our food around midnight and then just sat around talking and relaxing for another hour of two, as is the custom. It was really rainy, so we decided to just get taxis home. When I got home around two, I was quiet coming in, but Claudia and Francisco were up and wide awake. I stayed up looking at pictures of family trips with Fran and listening to his favorite American music (Bryan Adams: Summer of '69 ha) for another hour. Then he was going out to get these alfajor cookies at some little convenience store for Claudia and himself. They wanted to get me one, but it was past 3 and I insisted I had to go to bed!

This morning I woke up and went to Mass at this cathedral near my apartment called San Nicolas. Claudia and Fran had gone last night, so I went by myself. It was very interesting, although I didn't understand most of it due to sitting in the last row, extreme traffic noise, babies crying in front of me, the echo in the huge room, and last but not least, of course the Spanish. After church I met up with two girls from my program so we could do this picture project we were assigned in our Spanish class. We had to go around taking pictures of our barrio, Recoleta, with certain themes and we'll have to present them tomorrow. Then we got lunch at a cafe called Carlitos near the cemetery and I had delicious ham, egg, onion, and ricotta crepes. I had never talked to the other girls before but they are from Barnard and Penn. It is fascinating the kind of social/fashion/overall personality differences between students from the coasts vs. the midwest and public vs. private schools. My three best friends I've made so far are from the midwest of course! After our lunch I walked through the cemetery by myself for a bit and bought this delicious ice cream cone from the well-known Freddo chain. I also wandered through a Sunday feria (fair/open air market of sorts) by the Recoleta Cultural Center. Then I walked around trying to figure out my way home without a map. I'm really starting to get my bearings a little bit. I stopped and walked through a grocery store, studying all the various kinds of foods and the few American brands. I bought a Spanish language Newsweek at a kiosk and some plums from a street vendor. It's so fun to just explore by myself, as I've never been somewhere long enough to actually get to know the place without a guide and a big group. I'm now feeling confident using my Spanish at stores and in various social transactions with locals. I absolutely love my area and walking around the lovely parks, plazas, and tree-lined streets. Sunday mornings are eerily dead here, and there was barely anyone out when I was walking around. Now I'm back in my room relaxing and chatting with Fran. I hope to go to bed early for once tonight, because I have another busy week ahead! Maybe I can get the Oscars on TV here. Oh, and I also (hopefully) added some photos to prove I'm actually here!

revival of the awkward moment for jordan: When the two girls and I were taking pictures in this park, there was this group of Argentines our age standing around dancing and clapping. This one guy had a boombox and a stick of incense. All of a sudden they made a train and came over to us, circling us and grabbing at us to start dancing. They were just going crazy and shouting and touching us. We asked them why they were dancing and one girl said, "Por la alegria!" (for happiness). We didn't know what to do they just surrounded us and kept singing and jumping around. One guy started to dance with me and the girl took a picture of us in which I look absolutely traumatized and we're using it for the "tension" theme for our project. But it was sweet.